BC changes and purses

Comments are still a pretty rare thing in these parts so I do my best to respond to them when they come.

"........i was wondering what effect the new bc format would have on purses/ i wonder if those purses would be diluted keeping quality horses oversees at home/ i was surprised to find out that as far as rich purses goes, even without the middle eastern races, the u.s. is far down the list of offering the richest purses/ on the one hand i would like to see more foreign based horses in the bc races/ on the otherhand since i don't handicap them very well, i probably do better when they stay home

thanks,
gerry/illinois"

I think the changes made to the BC will serve to increase purses. The BC races will cause racetracks to shuffle thier current stakes schedule to include preps. In cases like the BC Juvenile Turf there are literally no preps stateside, so racetracks would logically look at adding stakes races that could serve as preps. Most likely some new races will be created and in that way purse money will increase. I dont know if we will see any specific increases.

I do believe though that a million dollar purse right now is as big a draw as you need to bring Europeans over. There aren't very many European races that directly conflict with the Breeders Cup. The Criterium International is usually run at the same time as the BC in France, but its not a terribly prestigeous G-1 race and its worth just about the equvalent of $250,000 USD. The Dewhurst is really the last major 2yo race in the European calender and it is typically run two weeks prior to the BC. It is also worth approximately $500,000 USD. I think the BC commitee knows full well that they'll be able to draw a good crowd of Europeans with a million dollar purse.